NFC Notes: Jalen Carter, Terry McLaurin, Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles

Commanders

Commanders WR Terry McLaurin is attempting to prove himself as a team leader this offseason, as he is now Washington’s longest-tenured player on offense. He also commented on new OC Eric Bieniemy and his coaching style. 

“He (Bieniemy) definitely coaches hard… I wanted to put my best foot forward and make a good impression, knowing that he can trust me as a leader, and as a player; I am going to do my job. I think his intensity is something we all feel so far.” McLaurin said, via CommandersWire.com.

Cowboys

Cowboys QB Will Grier is one of many third-string quarterbacks around the league who are a fan of the new rule where teams can dress a QB as an extra player if he is on the 53-man roster.

“I mean, I love it,” Grier recently said, via Nick Harris of DallasCowboys.com. “I think it’s smart. Quarterback is a different position. A guy can’t just jump in and play quarterback. In this league, I think you need three guys that can play. I think the rule is smart and everybody agrees after what we saw last year that you need that. Whether that guy is on the practice squad or on the roster with this rule enacted, that guy has to be ready to play.”

Eagles

Eagles GM Howie Roseman traded a fourth-round pick to move up one spot to ensure Philadelphia could draft DT Jalen Carter, who was viewed as a candidate for No. 1 overall before off-field issues and character concerns gained prominence during the pre-draft process. Roseman talked through his thinking on the deal and the pick. 

“I think when we looked at it, I think one of the things just going back and you know, me personally made a lot of mistakes here throughout the process in the draft process and looking back and sometimes, it’s about getting cute with picks and not really going and getting the outcome that you desire as opposed to kind of being a little bit more conservative,” Roseman said via Pro Football Talk. “And so, for us, where we were in the draft at that moment, we felt like that was the right thing to do to get Jalen here. Obviously, we know the story and the background behind Jalen. And we don’t feel so confident in our abilities to know that we can make everything right, but we do feel like in this specific situation that we have a good environment. We do think Jalen loves football. He wants to be great and so we’re excited to get him here and obviously work from there.”

Moving up one spot for a player is an indication a team thinks someone else behind them is going to trade up if they don’t make a deal. Roseman said the Bears didn’t necessarily create that impression to them to try and get them to pull the trigger on a deal but basically acknowledged they thought there was enough of a chance of it that they had to do it if they wanted Carter. 

“I think you’re left your own devices in those situations, and you’re putting yourself out there when, I mean there are situations where you’re trading for nothing, right?” Roseman said. “I’m not saying it was in this situation necessarily, but you’re doing it and you have to be comfortable with the outcome either way. And so, you have to be comfortable with the outcome of, ‘Hey, I traded a fourth-round pick’ and understanding that could be a good player for your team a year from now, but at the same situation being OK with not getting the player and who is next. And so, you know, that’s not to say we wouldn’t have been OK staying at 10 and taking another player, we just felt for us and our team and where we were that Jalen Carter was the right selection for us.”